Top ICOs Carried Out by Applicature

Applicature has worked and contributed to many ICOs, but today, the most successful ICOs are going to be reviewed in depth in order to define and understand which projects catch Applicature’s attention and see what solutions Applicature has offered and deployed for the ICOs.

CrowdWiz – Crypto Investing Platform

The founding team set the mission of democratizing and simplifying trading and investment processes by eliminating intermediaries and placing the power and control where it belongs: entirely in the hands of investors.

CrowdWiz is an open-source, Ethereum-based platform for crowd-driven investment products. This includes crypto-asset investment products such as funds, loans, real estate, and everything the crypto universe will offer in the future.

One of the main benefits for investors of CrowdWiz is the WIZ digital token. This is because most of the activities take their beginning from WIZ. WIZ is the name of the main currency in this ecosystem, and it is considered the primary form of ownership and collateral. The success of WIZ is connected with a constantly-growing market and ecosystem, so the interest of users increases, as well.

The ecosystem starts with the investment fund, where WIZ token-holders will control the fund by proposing and voting for investments. In order to offer a complete experience for investors, CrowdWiz also offers:

Wiz vote – voting mechanism. Description of the voting mechanism.

WizTrader – trading engine connected to the biggest crypto exchanges, and used to get the best price for the fund.

In the second stage, CrowdWiz released the WizFund Platform, where investors with specific investment goals are able to create their own fund and raise capital for it.

The third step is to integrate all new crypto assets born in the crypto world.

CrowdWiz was developed in close cooperation with incumbents providers in the industries of stock trading, options trading, and currency trading who intend to operate as providers in the Wiz ecosystem. Incumbents are expected to be the main channel for acquiring mainstream users, as they are expected to introduce WIZ to their existing customer base.

One CrowdWiz launch partner is Krypton software/TRADOLOGIC, with a user base of over 5 million registered users. These users will have a cryptocurrency wallet opened seamlessly for their benefit at launch, making WIZ one of the most popular cryptocurrencies among mainstream users.

Market Challenges

Nowadays, it is difficult to guarantee economic stability. But when we talk about blockchain technology, things are different. The decentralized system of cryptocurrency markets is beneficial. People can meet different challenges while investing or trading cryptocurrencies. The main challenges have mostly to do with regulatory or governance functions. Later, prediction markets will be regarded as financial activities. The prediction markets will be presumed financial instruments, and regulators will oversee all financial predictions. CrowdWiz is sure to succeed in all regulations that will be compulsory. It is not an easy task, however, to figure out certain political and economic events, because the program is decentralized, so there will be online gaming regulations.

There exists such a notion as liquidity, and it may cause many complications because of inaccurate predictions. That is why blockchain technology will regulate all challenges. Decentralization of the system will make people sure of its stability and security, so they can be in close proximity to the market.

The CrowdWiz Ecosystem

The CrowdWiz Ecosystem seeks to establish a global, decentralized network centered around financial services in which users are able to discover and participate in investments created by other token-holders (deal providers). The ecosystem builds a long-term cooperative operating model in which providers enjoy the opportunity to innovate and compete for compensation, and users enjoy the diversity of experience and the ability to profit from participating in a wide variety of deals.

Providers and Operators

Providers produce deals based upon the platform provided by CrowdWiz.

The roles of a provider include:

provide users with access to the network by having minimum WIZ tokens

bring traffic into the CrowdWiz network by promoting deals to its customers

present deals that users will be interested in

invest a minimum of WIZ tokens in the projects s/he presents

Providers receive an incentive (WIZ tokens) from the performance of deals s/he proves and was invested in by users.

This model incentivizes existing companies and entrepreneurs to join the CrowdWiz network as providers and users. Hubs of similar financial instruments such as investment platforms, short-term trading platforms, and Forex can capitalize on their existing customer base by introducing them to financial services through CrowdWiz.

CrowdWiz Token

The official entity that creates the CrowdWiz token (WIZ), model, and technology, CrowdWiz is focused upon releasing open-source cryptographic technologies that enable decentralized operation of the CrowdWiz network.

The roles of CrowdWiz include:

create the CrowdWiz token (WIZ) and execute it to fund development and operation of the network

define the model for executing financial services over the CrowdWiz network in a secure, fair, and decentralized manner

create incentives for providers, financial-services providers, and entrepreneurs to join the CrowdWiz network, adopt WIZ, and introduce their customer base to financial services on CrowdWiz

develop the technology required to run the network, such as Ethereum smart contracts that run financial services based upon the wisdom of the crowd

release the CrowdWiz app with a friendly user interface, allowing users to participate in, present, and vote on events in the CrowdWiz network

promote the CrowdWiz network by forming partnerships and marketing to bootstrap activity

deal with the regulatory aspects of the ecosystem

The revenue of CrowdWiz Ltd. comes from consulting services to companies that are using the CrowdWiz platform, and from its assets. CrowdWiz Ltd. does not operate deals, but may curate them in the apps it distributes and/or offer services to test the system, and may change policy in the future.

Tools for Growth

In order to receive bonuses, providers can distribute to other providers information about their clients. At this stage, we need a provider’s app that helps providers and operators show their selection of events. This is good for their users, as providers provide important and beneficial information.

This mechanism is helpful for users, as it contains a wide area of categories from which users can choose.

A fully automated new-fund token sale is initiated,e in which a dedicated fund token is issued that will automatically be listed on the Funds Exchange platform in the ecosystem with no delay or additional complicated procedures. Additionally, the token can be traded on external exchanges. There will be a portal that will display all current, upcoming, and past NTFS. Registered users will be able to subscribe for signals and invest in the token sale directly from the platform with major cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. Fund founders and investors will be able to view the transaction history, the performance of all funds founded and invested in, analytics and history for all NFTSs, and more. This will enable small groups (families, business partners) and communities (buildings, streets, neighborhoods and entire cities, countries or continents) to act against the market as one in an easy, fair, and entertaining way.

WizFunds

The world’s first crowd wisdom fund. A new and revolutionary way of investing in crypto assets in which investors who have purchased and invested their OPX in the crowdfund can vote for the assets in which the fund will invest. The fund executes a trade on a regular basis determined by the crowd vote of the top 5 assets in two categories: exchange-listed assets and ICOs. Investors can vote buy, sell, or hold (no action) based upon the money-management policy determining the trade amount, based upon a percentage of the total portfolio. Token-holders may also suggest adding and removing assets and ICOs to or from the trading list, which consists of the top 5 assets in each category. Additionally, there will be communication tools (chats, boards, and more) and access to market analysis, news, and signals to reinforce the decision-making process.

WizVote

The proprietary voting mechanism is fully transparent on the blockchain. There are different options for voting:

equal voting

weighted average voting

valid votes as a percentage of the total

This includes mechanisms to prevent malicious voting at multiple addresses. Voting results will be only displayed after the trade has been executed to avoid market speculation from funds participants. There will be a status bar showing how many votes as a percentage of the total have been exercised, a history of votes, voting statistics, time of vote, time until next vote, etc.

Although various voting mechanisms are envisioned inside the CrowdWiz platform, most of them intend to take the number of tokens held into account for vote-weight calculation.

Blockchain-based polling/voting systems provide transparency to ensure that one’s vote is enrolled only once, and that there is no chance of fraud. On another hand, cryptographic tools enable voting privacy of wherever it is required.

Invest in Funds

Wiz Investment serves as an encompassing suite for our crowd-wisdom-managed products, which enhance investments by making them smarter and safer. The CrowdWiz Fund and CrowdWiz Exchange are already incorporated, and will be followed by CrowdWiz Crypto Lending, CrowdWiz Insurance, and more.

Fund Creation

CrowdWiz Fund is the pioneer in our line of investment products, allowing participants to offer, assess, and act on investment opportunities as one against the market, thanks to their collective wisdom and insight. All capital decisions are subjected to a voting process executed through smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain network, guaranteeing an investment process of unmatched fairness and transparency so the crowd can determine the best actions.

WizExchange

The one-stop shop for analyzing the performance of funds and trading with fund tokens of existing crowd-wisdom funds.

WizExchange a crowd-managed, self-directing exchange platform, where token owners have the power themselves to determine which tokens are listed or removed for exchange by a voting process. The platform also enables participants to delete assets, should they suspect fraudulent activity or malicious practices. Owners of tokens are entitled to share income from the exchange from listing fees, yearly fees, and spread fees.

WizStore

WizStore is accessible for software programmers to develop various tools and add-ons and offer them through the app store to help the ecosystem expand — much like all participants, who are welcome to contribute with new voting and trading mechanisms, analysis tools, and signals. The publisher is also setting the pricing model for third-party apps.

Biddable (Codex) Overview

Biddable is a decentralized title registry with integrated deposit escrow and a reward system that crowdsources the estimation of value. In the context of art and collectibles, this estimation of value also functions as an assessment of authenticity.

First, art and collectibles are the first markets in which a decentralized title system has a strong likelihood of becoming the standard. From the earliest days of blockchain, a decentralized property-title registry has been touted as an application that the general public might understand. Thus far, all attempts to realize this have been made in real estate. Unfortunately, adoption has not been widespread. This is because most governments already provide a functioning property-title system, and have no urgent reason to recognize blockchain-based titles as a legal alternative. In the art and collectibles market, however, there is no existing title registry. This makes adoption much more likely, and presents a unique opportunity to prove the effectiveness of a decentralized title registry in a large market to the public.

Further, Biddable is supported by a consortium of online marketplaces representing 5,000 auction houses with several billion in annual sales who have agreed to adopt the standard and accept cryptocurrency exclusively through it. This means Biddable is even more likely to become an example of blockchain’s potential to the broader public.

Second, art and collectibles is an asset class that should be highly attractive to the new generation of crypto-wealth. Art has always been used by the wealthy as a store of value that is relatively stable, uncorrelated, and discrete. Holders of crypto assets have similar needs. While today, crypto assets seem to be chasing returns and diversification in the form of altcoins, these coins are highly correlated to Bitcoin, and thus a poor solution to portfolio diversification. The solution is diversification into art and collectibles.

Unfortunately, purchasing art and collectibles today with cryptocurrency is very difficult, and certainly not private. This is because auction houses need to know they can enforce a bidder’s obligation to pay for items won at auction, and they exclude anyone they cannot thoroughly vet. Biddable uses deposit escrow to remove trust from the transaction, enabling auction houses to trust and thus accept purchases from crypto-bidders.

Third and finally, Biddable has a clear need for a native token. A deposit-escrow smart contract would not be trustless if it required an off-chain action by the seller. Thus, the seller must escrow the title itself in the smart contract. In turn, this title must have real-world value. In Biddable, that title has value for two reasons: (1) because the market has agreed on the standard; and (2) because it includes the best evidence of authenticity. In the case of (1), we need a token to grant to consortium members to give them a stake in the success of the standard. In the case of (2), we need to a token to grant as rewards to experts for estimating value and authenticity, which is immutably stored on each title. In order to imbue the title with true value, Biddable needs rewards, which means Biddable needs a native token.

Abstract

Biddable is a decentralized title registry with a deeply integrated deposit-escrow system, rewards protocol for estimation of value, and a native token, BidCoin. Its first application is the Arts & Collectibles (A&C) auction market, which includes art, fine wine, collectible cars, antiques, decorative arts, coins, watches, jewelry, and more. Today, over $65 billion of A&C is purchased annually, half in live auctions.

However, buying at auction is difficult for three major reasons, which Biddable solves:

Approval:Most auction houses require pre-auction financial disclosures from bidders to ensure bidders can pay for what they win. Besides the obvious hassle, this deters bidders who value privacy and fear dishonest auctioneers may use their information to inform fraudulent “shill bidding,” which drives up prices. The result is an impasse which results in lower auction participation. In many cases, potential participants are simply excluded, particularly Asian bidders in Western auctions, and the reverse. Biddable solves this using smart contracts with deposit-escrow functionality to deter false bidders while protecting buyer privacy.

Settlement: Purchasing A&C often involves lengthy processing times, credit-card limits on high-value purchases, counterparty risk, one-off escrows, and other issues that make transactions difficult. Few A&C sellers currently accept cryptocurrencies. Biddable solves this by supporting major cryptocurrencies like Ether and Bitcoin in its deposit-escrow contracts.

Valuation & Authenticity: Estimating what to pay for a unique item prior to auction is difficult. In particular, buyers fear purchase of flawed items, discovering only later that they are worthless, which leaves little recourse. In the case of A&C, the most common fear is purchasing a forgery from a misinformed seller. Biddable solves this using a decentralized title registry to track ownership, combined with a rewards system to incentivize crowdsourced valuation and authentication by a community of knowledgeable experts.

Biddable includes a native token that is required to use the protocol. In particular, it is necessary to enable rewards of free tokens in order to incentivize the community of experts to authenticate titles. Biddable is intended as an enabling protocol, not a consumer destination. While Biddable will initially develop a Dapp to help with initial adoption, any organization could create a similar application and interface, and Biddable will support their efforts.

A title registry and transaction protocol only works insofar as it is adopted as a standard. To that end, online marketplaces, software providers, auction houses, and major collectors have come together in a consortium to support and adopt Biddable. Upon launch, holders of BidCoin will be able to purchase over $6 billion of registered A&C, and bid in sales from over 5,000 auctioneers. Because it will be accepted so broadly, it will instantly become the standard for both auctions and private sales. The result will be a world in which purchasing A&C is reliable, private, and easy.

Beyond A&C, similar problems exist in other markets for unique items that rely heavily on live auctions for price discovery. Biddable’s long-term vision is to adapt the protocol to solve these problems in every category of the auction market, including residential, commercial, and agricultural real estate ($139 billion), livestock ($86 billion), used cars ($409 billion), and industrial and agricultural equipment ($91 billion). In aggregate, 2% of global GDP, or $1 trillion, sells at auction.

Use of Bidcoin

Bidcoins are required to access the Biddable protocol. In requiring Bidcoins, our goals are the following:

First, to give ecosystem participants a vested interest in the success of the protocol by requiring them to hold tokens.

Second, to link usage to price appreciation, which creates network effects and drives further adoption.

Buyers must pay a transaction fee in order to acquire an SP, which shall initially be set at 1% of final sale price.

Part of the fee will go to replenish the Community Reward Pool, initially set at 2/3. A separate part of the fee will go to the Biddable operating company to fund ongoing operations and the Treasury.

Rewards:

Experts will receive Bidcoin for contributing to the valuation system. Distributions will be made according to the Proof of Provenance rewards algorithm. Rewards will either come from the Community Rewards Pool or owner bounties.

Sellers will receive rewards for offering items for sale in proportion to how many bonds they have posted.

Sellers will receive rewards for promoting Biddable to their clients, in proportion to the combined holdings of wallets that have previously purchased an item from the seller, integrated over a period of time to encourage holding. The intent of this is to create network effects from sellers to their existing clients. We expect auction houses to encourage their clients to use Bidcoin, and encourage holding through things like events with artists that are only available to clients with a sufficient threshold of tokens.

Staking

Sellers must hold Bidcoin (“post bond”) in order to accept deposits. Initially, the bond requirement shall be 100% of the deposit requirement for as long as deposits are accepted on each SP. For example, a seller requires a $1,000 deposit on an item estimated at $10,000 in an auction, and wants to accept deposits for the entire promotion period starting two months prior to the sale date. The seller must also post bond of $1,000 for two months. Three bidders each make a $1,000 deposit, but this does not affect the bond. The purpose of the bond to incentivize sellers to require reasonable deposits and to deter abusive behavior like testing the market with no intention of selling. We expect to grant early sellers sufficient tokens to stake their sales (subject to a lockup). Thereafter, sellers must either keep or acquire tokens themselves or convince others to stake on their behalf.

Holders of Bidcoin can post bond on behalf of sellers, in the event that the seller does not have sufficient funds. In exchange, the seller transfers whatever rewards they receive to the holders.

Experts must hold Bidcoin to participate in the vetting system and receive rewards (“post bond”). This shall initially be set at ~$25 worth of Bidcoin. The purpose is to prevent abusive behavior, in which case the Bond will be burned. An algorithm will be developed to identify abusive behavior.

Other:

There may be other fees implemented for the purposes of preventing abuse such as Sybil attacks, and for the cost of Ethereum gas. These do not have the intention of profit or refreshing the Community Rewards Pool.

Codex Request

Applicature used different tools for the sessions, in which developers discovered and pointed out how the blockchain-based ecosystem might look for the Codex business case.

Later, Applicature built the proof of concept on blockchain, which was implemented to be able to validate if a user sends a small deposit to Escrow. Once the user’s deposit is received to the Escrow system, users will be allowed to participate in the online option.

Once the Proof of Concept was implemented, the Codex protocol’s border director was convinced to move the project forward.

Cryptonaut Ethereum Token Design Project

The client requested the ICO smart contract with KYC and whitelisting processes with two steps of accreditation.

The tokens become visible (in standard wallets) and transferable only if both steps of accreditation are done (whitelisting & verification), and the second switch is pulled (permission for token transfer for all users). The switch has to be pulled by admin at some point in time after the entirety of the token sale (ICO period).

Feel free to have a look at other ICOs Applicature has worked with here.